UC-NRLF 


99 


B   14   517   SEfi 


OF  CALIFORNIA  PUBLICATIONS 


AMERICAN    ARCHAEOLOGY    AND    ETHNOLOGY 

Vol.  13,  No.  3,  pp.  103-152,  plates  21-37  March  6,  1918 


YAHI  ARCHERY 


SAXTON  T.  POPE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  PRESS 
BERKELEY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA   PUBLICATIONS 

IN 

AMERICAN    ARCHAEOLOGY    AND    ETHNOLOGY 

Vol.  13,  No.  3,  pp.  103-152,  plates  21-37  March  6,  1918 


YAHI  ARCHERY 

BY 

SAXTON  T.  POPE 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction    103 

Technical  terms 105 

The  bow  105 

The  arrow ..  110 

Manufacture   of   arrow   points 116 

The  quiver  118 

Handling  the  bow 119 

Ishi's  records  with  the  bow _ 123 

Hunting  methods   126 

Explanation   of   plates 132 

INTRODUCTION 

Archery  is  nearly  a  lost  art.  Among  civilized  peoples  it  survives 
only  as  a  game.  It  is  well  known,  however,  that^even  as  late  as  two 
centuries  ago  the  bow  was  a  vigorous  competitor  with  the  flintlock 
in  warfare.  Benjamin  Franklin  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution 
seriously  considered  the  possibility  of  arming  the  American  troops 
with  the  longbow,  as  a  cheaper  and  more  effective  weapon  than  the 
flintlock1  musket.  That  the  archery  even  of  the  American  Indian  was, 
during  the  early  periods  of  occupation,  substantially  as  effective  as 
the  musketry  of  the  period  is  attested  in  the  historic  records  of  some 
of  the  explorers.2  Such  aboriginal  archery  has,  of  course,  undergone 
a  great  decadence  since  the  rifle  has  supplanted  the  bow.  It  is  now 


1  See  letter  from  Benjamin  Franklin  to  Major-General  Lee,  in  Memoirs  of  the 
late  Charles  Lee,  second  in  command  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  of  America 
of  America  during  the  revolution.  .  .     London,  1792,  p.  240. 

2  See,  for  example,  the  narrative  of  Cabeza  de  Vaca  concerning  the   Indians 
of  Florida,  in  Buckingham  Smith,  Relation  of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca, 
New  York,  1871,  p.  30. 


434000 


104  pniversity  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arcli.  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

almost  extinct.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  very  little  accurate 
information  as  to  how  the  Indians  used  their  weapons,  and  still  less 
as  to  how  they  made  them.  The  present  paper  is  an  attempt  to 
present  the  facts  concerning  the  archery  of  one  tribe,  the  Yahi  or 
Deer  Creek  Indians  of  north-  central  California,  the  most  southerly 
division  of  the  Yanan3  stock,  as  represented  in  the  person  of  its  last 
survivor,  Ishi,  who  lived  from  1911  to  1916  at  the  University  of  Cali 
fornia.  The  paper  will  deal  first  with  the  very  interesting  methods 
of  the  Yahi  for  the  manufacture  of  the  implements  of  archery,  and, 
second,  their  style  of  shooting. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  performances  of  civilized  archers,) 
Avho  practice  with  the  bow  as  a  sport,  far  surpass  those  of  savages.  It 
is  a  curiojiSufact  thafe-^rcjjery  was  brought  to  perfection  only  after  the 
how  became  obsolete  as  a  serious  weapon.  It  is  interesting,  therefore, 
to  compare  the  Yahi  "style"  with  that  of  the  more  skilful  archers 
who  follow  the  rules  of  the  modern  game. 

Ishi,  the  native  informant  for  the  present  paper,  comes  of  a  tribe 
famous  for  its  fighting  qualities.  The  group  lived,-to  a  considerable 
extent  on  wild  game,  and  the  bow  was  their  glory  and  their  delight. 
We  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  their  skill  or  the  strength  of  their 
weapons  was  inferior  to  that  of  the  average  American  savage.  Con 
cerning  the  informant  himself,  the  following  might  be  said : 

Ishi  1  overHi is  bow__ag_h e  loved  nothing  else  in  his  possession. 

He  knew  what  a  gun  was,  but  he  had  never  shot  one  until  after 
1911  when  he  entered  civilization.  The  bow  he  had  used  ever  since 
boyhood.^JWhen  captured  he  had  no  weapons,  though  a  bow  and 
many  arrows  were  taken  from  his  lodge  by  those  who  first  discovered 
the  camp  where  the  remnant  of  his  people  were  living.  Some  of  these 
arrows  we  later  recovered,  some  through  the  generosity  of  the  finders 
and  some  by  purchase,  but  his  original  bow  is  missing. 

What  the  writer  knows  of  Ishi's  archery  is  based  upon  three  years' 
association  with  him.  In  this  period  many  hours  were  spent  in  mak 
ing  bows  and  arrows,  in  talking  about  shooting,  in  target  practice, 
and  in  hunting  trips  in  the  fields  and  woods.  During  the  years  1913 
and  1914  there  was  opportunity  for  two  extended  trips  in  the  moun 
tains  in  his  company.  Dr.  J.  V.  Cooke  and  the  present  writer  took 
up  the  practice  of  archery  in  1912  under  Ishi's  guidance,  at  first 
according  to  the  Indian's  own  methods,  though  later  we  followed  the 
English  style.  At  first  Ishi  was  our  master  in  marksmanship,  but  at 


3  Edward  Sapir  has  published  Yana  Myftis- in-  volume  9  of  the  present  series. 


1918]  Pope:  Yahi  Archery  10o 

the  end  of  a  few  months  we  were  able  to  outdo  him  at_target_wprk,  and 
to  equaTTiis"  performances  in_shootin^  ^ame.  This  jdoes  not  in  any 
way  iniplyrgFeatef"sRriI  on  our  part,  but  does  point  clearly  to  the  actual 
superiority  of  the  "civilized"  methods. 

In  speaking  of  the  techniques  of  manufacture  used  by  Ishi,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  he  soon  adopted  civilized  tools  in  this  work.  The 
jackknife  and  file  supplanted  the  obsidian  blade  and  the  scraper  of 
sandstone.  He  only  returned  to  his  primitive  ways  when  requested 
to  show  the  processes  he  formerly  performed. 

He  was  a  most  painstaking  and  finished  workman.  His  dexterity 
and  ingenuity  were  delightful  to  watch.  No  better  specimens  of 
arrowheads,  shafts,  and  bows  are  contained  in  the  Museum  of  the 
University  than  those  made  by  him.  Probably  better  ones  were  never 
made  anywhere.  His  eye  for  form  and  symmetry  was  perfect. 


A  bow  has  the  following  parts :  A  back,  that  part  away  from  the 
archer ;  a  belly,  the  concave  side,  when  full  drawn ;  a  handle  or  hand 
grip,  a  portion  near  the  center  for  holding  the  weapon;  limbs,  that 
part  between  the  handle  and  the  extremities.  These  extremities  usually 
have  notches,  or  some  contrivance  to  maintain  the  string  in  position, 
called  nocks.  The  process  of  bending  a  bow  and  attaching  the  string 
to  the  ends  is  called  bracing  it.  The  amount  of  pull  on  the  string, 
necessary  to  draw  an  arrow  a  proper  distance  before  discharging  it 
from  the  bow,  may  be  ascertained  in  pounds  by  means  of  a  scale  or 
balance.  This  is  called  the  "weight"  of  the  bow. 

THE  BOW 

Ishi  called  the  bow  man'i.  He  made  bows  of  many  woods  while 
under  observation,  but  upon  an  expedition  into  his  country  three  years 
after  his  capture  he  showed  us  the  tree  from  which  the  best  bows  were 
made.  It  was  the  mountain  juniper.  He  made  a  stave  from  one  of 
these  trees  on  the  spot,  though  it  was  later  ruined. 

He  described  another  tree  from  which  his  tribe  made  bows,  appar 
ently  the  incense  cedar.  This,  he  said,  was  chopped  down  by  the  one 
man  in  his  tribe  who  owned  an  iron  axe,  and  split  with  wedges  of 
deer  horn  into  proper-sized  staves.  To  obtain  the  wood  for  his  bow 
he  broke  a  limb  from  the  tree,  which  seems  to  have  been  the  custom 
before  the  days  of  axes. 


106  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arcli.  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

The  Indian  with  the  axe  seems  to  have  been  the  bow  maker  of  the 
vicinity.  He  also  owned  a  long  knife,  and  was  known  as  Chunoydki, 
that  is,  Atsugewi  or  Hat  Creek  Indian.  Of  his  prowess  with  the  bow, 
Ishi  told  us  many  tales. 

Juniper  \vood  Ishi  called  nogu'i.  Yew  wood  he  did  not  seem  to 
have  used,  though  he  knew  of  it  and  said  that  other  tribes  used  it. 
His  name  for  this  was  hulogos'i.  He  knewr  that  its  leaves  were 
poisonous  to  eat. 

While  with  us  he  used  eucalyptus,  tanbark  oak,  red  cedar  (tiyu-n'i), 
hickory,  ash,  juniper,  and  yew  for  his  bows.  All  of  these  were  of  the 
same  general  shape  and  size,  and  all  were  backed  with  sinew.  Yew, 
of  course,  produced  the  best  weapon.  His  standard  of  measurement 
for  a  good  bow  was  to  hold  a  stave  diagonally  across  his  chest  with 
one  end  in  his  right  hand  at  the  hip,  and  the  left  arm  extended  straight 
out  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees  from  the  horizontal.  The  distance 
between  these  points  was  the  proper  length  for  a  bow.  This  measured 
in  his  own  case  four  feet  and  two  inches.  The  wddth  of  the  bow  at  the 
middle  of  each  limb  was  three  or  four  fingers,  according  to  whether  a 
light  hunting  bow  or  a  powerful  war  bow  was  wanted. 

The  shape  of  his  bowr  was  a  short,  flat  stave,  with  limbs  wider  at 
their  center  than  at  the  handle,  sometimes  recurved  at  their  outer 
extremity,  tapering  gracefully  to  small  short  nocks  at  the  ends. 

His  wrood,  after  being  split  or  partially  blocked  out  from  a  limb, 
was  laid  in  a  horizontal  position  in  a  warm,  sheltered  place.  Here  it 
seasoned.  But  as  to  what  time  of  year  to  cut  it,  or  how  long  to  season 
it,  Ishi  seemed  to  have  no  set  opinions. 

The  process  of  shaping  the  bow  was  that  of  scraping  with  flint 
or  obsidian.  With  infinite  patience  and  care  he  reduced  the  wood  to 
the  proper  dimensions.  In  the  finishing  work  he  used  sandstone.  The 
measurements  of  two  of  his  best  bows  are  as  follows : 

Number  1-19590.  Length,  44  inches.  Diameters,  at  handle,  %  by  1^  inches; 
at  midlimb,  %c,  by  1%  inches;  at  nock,  ^6  by  %  inches.  Pulls  40  pounds. 

Bow  in  possession  of  author.  Shown  in  use  in  plate  31.  Length,  541/£  inches. 
Diameters,  at  handle,  %  by  1%;  at  midlimb,  %  by  1%;  at  nock,  14  by  i/2  inches. 
Pulls  45  pounds. 

He  seemed  to  have  had  no  great  respect,  as  the  English  do,  for  the 
Avhite  sap  wood  of  yew  or  cedar.  Although  he  placed  this  at  the  back 
of  his  bow,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  cut  through  its  grain  to  attain  a 
symmetrical  form,  and  just  as  often  he  would  scrape  most  of  it  away, 
leaving  only  a  thin  stratum  of  white  at  each  edge.  At  the  handle  a 
cross  section  of  the  bow  was  oval,  while  a  section  through  the  mid-limb 
was  much  flatter. 


1918]  Pope:  Yahi  Archery  107 

Iii  some  of  his  bows  the  last  six  inches  of  the  limbs  were  recurved. 
This  was  accomplished  by  holding  the  back  of  the  bow,  at  this  point, 
on  a  hot  rock  while  pressure  was  applied  at  the  ends,  bending  the 
wood  over  the  stone,  shifting  the  bow  back  and  forth,  until  the  requi 
site  curve  had  been  obtained.  Then,  while  the  wood  cooled,  Ishi  held 
it  pressed  against  his  knee,  which  was  protected  by  a  pad  of  buckskin. 


[[[[11 


J    a.    ii 

|    cross  sections    |'     /gxlz.- 

bacK_ 


Ishi's   short  "bovv\, 

After  the  bow  was  shaped  and  finished  smoothly  011  the  belly,  the 
sinew  was  applied  to  the  back,  which  had  been  left  rather  rough.  As 
backing  for  his  bow,  Ishi  used  either  the  dorsal  fascia  obtained  from 
a  deer,  or  he  teased  out  the  long  tendons,  bama,  from  the  hind  legs. 
These  strips  were  from  eight  to  fourteen  inches  long,  and  when  dry 
were  about  the  thickness  of  parchment. 

Preparatory  to  using  this  tissue  he  soaked  it  in  warm  water  for 
several  hours.  The'  back  of  his  bow,  the  side  having  the  sap  wood  on 
it,  he  smeared  thickly  with  glue.  In  his  native  state  he  made  this 
glue,  so  he  said,  by  boiling  the  skin  of  salmon  and  macerating  it  while 
hot.  While  with  us  he  was  very  enthusiastic  over  our  common  liquid 
glue  and  disdained  the  use  of  hot  furniture  glue.  He  permitted  this 
coating  of  glue  to  dry.  Now,  having  his  sinew  wet,  he  chewed  these 
strips  until  they  were  soft  and  pulpy  and  then  carefully  laid  them  in 
parallel  lines  down  the  back,  overlapping  the  ends  as  he  went.  This 
process  required  a  great  deal  of  tissue  and  much  patience.  Having 
applied  the  sinew,  he  bound  it  on  with  ribbons  of  maple  bark  running 
spirally  about  the  bow.  This  he  removed  after  the  expiration  of  ' '  one 
sleep/'  As  the  sinew  dried,  it  contracted  and  tended  to  draw  the 
ends  of  the  bow  into  a  reversed  position.  After  this  had  happened,  he 
applied  more  glue  to  the  surface.  Several  days  later,  when  all  the 
backing  was  thoroughly  dry  and  hard,  he  filed  and  scraped  it  very 
smooth,  filing  the  overlapping  margins  level  with  the  edges  of  his  bow. 


108  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

Strips  of  sinew  during  the  process  of  "backing"  were  folded  over 
the  nocks  of  the  bow.  He  now  served  or  wrapped  the  ends  of  the  bow 
with  strips  of  tendon,  covering  the  nock  proper  and  running  about  an 
inch  down  the  limb.  Here  he  let  his  work  rest  for  days  or  weeks, 
exposing  it  to  the  sunlight  and  permitting  the  wood  to  season  fully. 
During  this  waiting  period  he  made  the  bow  string  or  chalman'i. 
The  tendons  used  in  this  were  of  a  finer  quality  than  those  used  before 
and  were  obtained  from  the  outer,  more  slender  group  of  tendons  in 
the  deer's  shank.  These  he  stripped  far  up  into  their  origin  in  the 
muscle  bundles,  tearing  them  free  with  his  teeth. 

If  fresh,  he  simply  chewed  this  tissue  and  teased  it  apart  into 
threads  no  larger  than  floss  silk.  If  dry,  he  soaked  it  in  warm  water 
before  chewing  it.  He  then  proceeded  to  spin  a  string  by  fixing  one 
end  of  a  bundle  of  tendon  strips  to  a  stationary  point  and  rolling  the 
other  end  between  his  fingers  in  a  single  strand.  As  he  progressed 
down  the  string  he  added  more  threads  of  tendon  to  the  cord,  making 
a  very  tight,  simple  twist  one-eighth  of  an  inch  thick.  When  about 
five  feet  long,  he  twisted  and  secured  the  proximal  end,  leaving  his 
twisted  cord  taut  between  two  points.  The  last  smoothing-up  stage 
he  accomplished  by  applying  saliva  and  rubbing  up  and  down  its 
length.  The  finished  bow  string  was  now  permitted  to  dry.  Its  final 
diameter  was  about  three  thirty-seconds  of  an  inch.  After  it  was  dry 
he  formed  a  loop  at  one  end  by  folding  back  some  three  inches  of 
string,  tapering  it  by  scraping,  and  serving  two  of  the  three  inches 
securely  with  more  tendon.  He  seemed  to  have  no  idea  of  splicing, 
nor  did  he  know  any  clever  knots.  Moreover,  he  never  used  glue  at 
this  point.  In  fact  this  loop  was  the  weakest  part  of  his  string  and 
not  infrequently  came  apart,  when,  in  disgust,  he  would  tie  a  single 
loop  knot  and  forego  the  finished  effect  of  the  unknotted  self  loop.  Nor 
had  he  any  idea  of  serving  his  string  with  any  binding  at  the  nocking 
point,  where  the  arrow  rests. 

At  this  stage,  Ishi  was  ready  to  string  the  bow.  He  designated  the 
end  of  the  stave  which  grew  uppermost  in  the  tree  as  the  chunna, 
"face,"  and  over  the  nock  in  this  end  he  slipped  the  loop  of  his  string. 
To  fail  to  shoot  with  this  end  uppermost,  he  said,  would  cause  the 
arrow  to  miss  its  mark. 

In  stringing  the  bow  for  the  first  time,  he  seated  himself,  placing 
the  upper  nock  behind  his  left  heel,  the  belly  toward  him,  the  handle 
against  his  right  knee,  the  lower  limb  upward  in  his  left  hand.  In 
this  position  he  bent  the  bow  and  fastened  the  string  about  the  other 


1918]  Pope:  YaM  Archer  if  109 

nock.  His  method  of  securing  the  string  was  as  follows :  he  wound  it 
twice  aroung  the  nock,  passed  under  the  bowstring,  turned  backward 
and  wound  in  the  opposite  direction  several  laps,  then  fixed  the  end  by 
a  couple  of  slip  knots.  Usually  he  made  his  string  with  a  tapering 
extremity  which  rendered  it  easier  to  fasten.  Then  he  cautiously  drew 
his  bow  and  observed  its  bend.  On  cold  days,  Ishi  warmed  his  bow 
over  a  fire  before  attempting  to  brace  it.  The  ideal  bow,  to  his  mind, 
curved  in  a  perfect  arch  at  all  points,  and  at  full  draw  represented  a 
crescent.  The  center  bent  with  the  limbs  and  was  the  bow's  weakest 
point.  A  forty-five  inch  bow  he  drew  twenty-five  inches.  No  yew 
wood  could  stand  such  an  arc  without  backing.  In  fact  he  broke 
two  bow-staves,  testing  them  at  my  request,  prior  to  the  application  of 
sinewr. 

Where  the  contour  showed  the  bow  too  strong,  he  filed  or  scraped 
it  on  the  belly  side,  thus  gradually  distributing  the  bend  evenly  along 
the  bow.  About  the  middle  he  bound  a  ribbon  of  buckskin,  making 
a  hand  grip  some  five  or  six  inches  wide.  This  buckskin  thong  was 
about  half  an  inch  wide  and  ran  spirally  about  the  bow,  not  over 
lapping,  fastened  at  each  end  by  an  extra  wrapping  of  string  or  sinew. 

Ishi  showed  no  tendency  to  anoint  his  weapon  with  grease,  nor  to 
apply  any  protective  coat,  though  later  he  learned  the  value  of  shellac 
in  preserving  his  backing  from  dampness.  The  great  aversion  he  had 
to  shooting  while  any  fog  or  moisture  was  in  the  air  rather  indicates 
that  his  bow  was  without  the  coverings  of  fat,  wax,  or  resin  so  fre 
quently  used  by  archers  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

Usually  Ishi  made  no  effort  to  decorate  his  bow,  though  he  spoke 
of  painting  it,  and  led  me  to  infer  that  this  was  done  only  after  the 
implement  had  shown  some  peculiar  virtue,  or  had  figured  in  some  deed 
of  valor.  The  one  bow  he  embellished  wrhile  with  us  he  marked  with 
three  green  transverse  stripes  just  above  the  handle  and  below  the 
nocks,  and  three  long  snaky  lines  running  down  the  back.  He  said 
that  red  also  was  an  appropriate  color. 

When  finished  and  seasoned,  these  bows  pulled,  or  "weighed," 
when  drawrn  to  twenty-five  inches,  between  thirty-five  and  fifty  pounds. 
His  favorite  hunting  bow  weighed  forty  pounds. 

When  not  in  use  he  kept  his  bows  in  a  leather  quiver,  or  wrapped 
in  a  cloth.  The  tail  of  a  mountain  lion  was  considered  an  admirable 
cover  for  a  bow.  The  bow  was  always  laid  in  a  horizontal  position. 
To  stand  a  bow  upright,  according  to  his  theories,  was  to  keep  it 
working;  if  left  standing  it  would  "sweat"  and  become  weak.  If  a 


110  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

child  touched  a  bow,  it  brought  bad  luck.  Nor  should  a  child  step  over 
it  while  it  lay  on  the  ground,  for  this  would  cause  it  to  shoot  crookedly. 
If  a  woman  touched  Ishi's  bowr,  it  was  a  serious  contamination.  The 
bow  must  be  washed  and  cleaned  with  sand.  He  was  most  careful  not 
to  keep  his  bow  strung  too  long  but  furnished  the  loop  with  a  bit  of 
cord,  which  extended  from  nock  to  loop,  and  served  to  keep  the  bow 
string  from  getting  out  of  place  while  the  bow  was  unbraced.  After 
unstringing  he  often  gave  his  bow  a  slight  bend  backward  to  restore 
its  straightness ;  this  is  considered  very  bad  practice  by  English 
archers. 

A  good  bow  was  one  whose  string  made  a  high  musical  note  when 
tapped  with  an  arrow  or  snapped  with  the  fingers.  It  should  sing 
the  note  ' '  tin,  tin,  tin. ' '  This  was  the  ' '  chief 's  bow. ' '  One  whose  note 
was  dead  and  unmusical,  Ishi  treated  with  contempt. 

By  placing  the  upper  end  of  his  braced  bow  at  the  corner  of  his 
open  mouth  and  gently  tapping  the  string  midway  between  the  end 
and  center  he  caused  clear  musical  notes  to  be  produced.  This  sounded 
like  our  jew's-harp,  and  by  altering  the  shape  of  the  buccal  cavity  he 
was  able  to  create  a  series  of  tones  sufficient  to  form  a  melody  relating 
to  a  story  of  wonderful  deeds  with  the  bow.  He  sang  of  a  great  archer 
who  dipped  his  arrow  point  in  the  sea,  then  in  the  fire,  drew  a 
mighty  bow,  and  shot  at  the  sun.  His  arrow  flew  like  the  north  wind, 
and  entering  the  door  of  the  sun,  put  out  its  light.  Then  all  the  world 
became  dark,  men  shivered  with  cold,  and  from  this  time  they  grew 
feathers  on  their  bodies  to  make  them  warm. 

THE  ARROW 

The  arrow  was  called  sawa. 

Of  all  the  specimens  of  arrows  in  the  University  Museum,  scarcely 
any  show  such  perfect  workmanship  as  those  of  Ishi.  His  proportions 
and  finish  are  of  very  high  order. 

At  the  time  of  the  rediscovery  of  the  remnant  of  the  tribe,  a  num 
ber  of  arrows  were  secured  from  the  huts,  which  doubtless  represent 
his  average  work.  Later,  while  with  us,  he  made  scores  of  arrows  of 
various  shapes  and  sizes.  Apparently  some  arrows,  those  of  great 
length,  measuring  a  yard,  and  having  large  heads,  were  purely  for 
ornamental  purposes,  or  intended  to  be  given  as  presents,  or  possibly 
to  be  used  in  time  of  war.  His  hunting  shafts  were  of  two  kinds — 
obsidian  pointed,  and  blunt,  For  shooting  small  game,  such  as  birds 
and  rabbits,  the  latter  were  used.  For  killing  deer,  bear,  and  preda- 


Pope:  Tahi  Arclienj  111 

tory  animals,  sharp  arrows  were  used.  Here,  if  the  object  shot  at  were 
missed,  a  broken  arrow-point  resulted.  The  arrow  shafts  were  made 
of  several  kinds  of  wood.  Those  obtained  from  his  hut  in  Tehama 
County  seem  to  be  of  hazel,  humoha,  and  this  was  a  favorite  wood  with 
him.  A  native  bamboo-like  reed  was  also  a  great  favorite.  Dogwood 
and  mountain  mahogany  he  also  used.  Other  shaft  woods  pointed  out 
by  him  were  bakanyau'an  (Philadelphus  Leivisii),  sawa'i  ("arrow 
bush, ' '  Paeonia  Brownii] ,  and  loko  and  habaigili'i,  unidentified.  Later, 
as  the  result  of  a  modification  of  ideas  he  underwent  in  our  company, 
lie  adopted  the  commercial  %0-inch  birch  dowel  as  the  ideal  material, 
probably  because  of  its  accessibility. 

In  the  case  of  cane  arrows,  a  wooden  "foreshaft,"  six  to  eight 
inches  long,  was  invariably  added,  and  such  foreshafts  were  sometimes 
added  to  wooden  arrows.  They  were  of  hazel,  buckeye  (bahsi),  wild 
currant  (wahsu'i),  and  perhaps  other  woods.  The  foreshaft  was 
normally  heavier  material  than  the  main  shaft. 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  his  typical  hunting  arrow  was  a 
hazel  stick,  with  a  foreshaft,  the  entire  length  being  29  inches.  The 
diameter  at  the  middle  was  11/!2  inch;  and  the  total  weight  was  330 
grains.  The  feathering  of  the  arrow  consisted  of  three  plumes  from 
a  buzzard's  wing,  4%  inches  long,  %  inch  wide.  They  were  trimmed 
straight  to  the  forward  end,  where  their  width  was  about  %  inch,  and 
terminated  %  inch  from  the  nock  of  the  arrow.  At  each  end  the 
feathers  were  bound  down  with  sinew. 

In  gathering  wood  for  arrows  he  generally  selected  the  tall,  straight 
shoots  of  hazel  where  it  grew  in  competition  with  other  shrubs  or 
trees,  cutting  them  about  a  yard  long,  their  greatest  diameter  being 
little  more  than  three-eighths  of  an  inch.  These  he  stripped  of  bark 
with  his  thumb  nail.  He  always  made  arrows  in  groups  of  five.  Thus 
he  would  select  the  best  of  his  sticks,  and  collecting  them  in  groups, 
bind  them  together  securely  with  a  cord.  In  this  bundle  they  were 
permitted  to  season,  lying  in  a  horizontal  position.  After  any  period 
from  a  week  to  a  year  these  sticks  might  be  used. 

The  first  process  in  manufacture  was  that  of  straightening  his 
shafts.  To  do  this  he  either  made  a  small  heap  of  glowing  embers 
from  a  fire  or  utilized  a  hot  stone.  He  applied  pressure  with  his  thumbs 
on  the  convex  side  of  any  irregularity  or  bend  in  a  shaft,  and  holding 
this  near  the  heat,  passed  the  wood  back  and  forth  before  the  stone  or 
coals.  When  the  wood  was  warm,  it  gave  very  readily  to  pressure. 
In  less  than  a  minute  any  curve  or  crook  could  be  straightened  out. 
The  wood  after  cooling  always  retained  its  new  position.  Glancing 


112  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

down  the  axis  of  his  shaft  from  time  to  time,  Ishi  gauged  its  straight- 
ness.  To  burn  or  discolor  the  wood  was  evidence  of  bad  technique. 
Smoothing  was  accomplished  by  scraping  and  rubbing  the  arrow 
shaft  between  two  pieces  of  sandstone.  He  sometimes  finished  the 
shaft  by  rolling  it  back  and  forth  on  the  thigh  with  his  right  palm, 
while  he  worked  it  with  a  piece  of  sandstone  held  in  his  left  hand.  By 
this  means  he  could  "turn"  a  shaft  almost  as  accurately  as  if  a  lathe 
were  used. 

Where  a  foreshaft  was  to  be  added,  the  length  of  the  main  shaft 
was  21  inches.  At  the  smaller  end  he  cut  a  notch  for  the  bow  string 
with  a  bit  of  obsidian,  making  this  nock  %2  of  an  inch  wide  and  %G 
inch  deep.  In  larger  arrows  he  deepened  this  to  y2  inch.  The  other 
end  of  the  shaft  was  next  drilled  out  to  accommodate  the  foreshaft. 

His  method  of  drilling  was  as  follows:  Placing  a  sharp  piece  of 
bone,  point  up,  in  the  ground,  and  steadying  it  with  his  toes,  he  rotated 
the  shaft  perpendicularly  upon  this  point.  The  motion  here  was  iden 
tical  with  that  employed  in  making  fire  by  means  of  a  drill  and  base 
stick,  the  stick  being  rolled  between  the  palms  with  downward  press 
ure.  The  excavation  averaged  an  inch  in  depth  and  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  in  diameter,  and  ran  to  a  point.  During  this  drilling  process  the 
lower  end  of  the  shaft  was  tightly  bound  with  sinew  or  cedar  cord 
to  keep  it  from  splitting.  One  end  of  the  foreshaft  was  formed  into 
a  spindle  and  made  to  fit  this  socket,  leaving  a  slight  shoulder  where 
the  two  segments  met.  Salmon  glue  or  resin  was  used  to  secure  union, 
and  the  joint  was  bound  with  macerated  tendon  for  the  distance  of  an 
inch  or  more. 

When  a  group  of  five  arrows  had  been  brought  to  this  stage  of 
completion,  he  painted  them.  His  favorite  colors  were  green  and  red. 
At  first  he  insisted  that  these  were  the  only  colors  to  use,  since  they 
had  the  effect  of  making  the  arrows  fly  straight.  After  we  began  to 
excel  him  in  marksmanship  he  scraped  all  his  arrows  and  painted 
them  red  and  blue,  perhaps  to  change  his  luck.  The  shafts  obtained 
from  his  hut  were  of  these  latter  colors,  but  at  least  the  blue  is 
American  pigment,  perhaps  secured  during  nocturnal  prowlings  in 
vacant  cabins. 

Red,  he  told  me,  came  from  the  earth  and  was  made  with  fire. 
Blue  he  obtained  from  a  plant  ' '  like  a  potato ' ' ;  green  from  a  plant 
"like  an  onion";  black  from  the  eye  of  salmon  or  trout.4  The  pig- 

4  Ishi  designated  Lathyrus  sulphurea,  Icununutspi'i,  as  yielding  a  yellow  paint 
for  arrows.  The  "onion"  from  which  green  was  obtained  may  have  been  a  plant 
related  to  the  lily  Fritillaria  lanceolata,  which  he  called  t'aka,  although  he  declared 
this  species  to  produce  a  salmon-colored  dye.  Commandra  umbellata,  punentsaw'i 
in  his  language,  was  also  used  for  painting  arrows. 


1918]  Pope:  Yahi  Archery  113 

ments  were  mixed  with  the  gum  or  sap  of  some  trees.  He  had  no 
opportunity  to  explain  the  process  more  fully.  When  with  us  he 
used  the  ground  pigments  of  commerce,  with  which  he  mixed  an 
alcoholic  solution  of  shellac. 

The  University  Museum  has  a  sample  of  red  pigment  obtained  from 
the  Yahi  Indians  before  Ishi  's  capture,  and  it  is  the  usual  red  ochre. 

The  design  employed  in  painting  usually  consisted  of  alternating 
rings  of  red  and  blue  a  quarter  of  an  inch  wide,  with  a  wide  space 
between  two  groups  of  the  stripes,  sometimes  occupied  by  red  or  blue 
dots,  or  snaky  lines  running  lengthwise.  Only  that  space  which  was 
later  to  be  spanned  by  the  feathers  was  painted.  The  design  was 
usually  three  rings  near  the  nock,  then  ten  rings  at  the  smaller  end 
of  the  feather. 

In  applying  his  paint  he  used  a  little  stick  of  wood,  or  drew  a  small 
bunch  of  bristles,  set  in  resin,  through  a  quill,  making  a  brush.  To 
make  the  rings  of  color  he  clamped  the  arrow  shaft  between  his  left  arm 
and  chest,  while  he  rotated  it  with  the  left  hand.  In  his  right,  which 
was  steadied  on  his  knee,  he  held  the  brush  with  its  coloring  matter. 
In  making  serpentine  lines  he  used  a  little  pattern  of  wood  or  deer- 
hide,  cut  with  a  zigzag  edge,  along  which  he  passed  his  brush.  These 
figures  seemed  to  have  no  symbolic  meaning  to  him.  Apparently  they 
were  simply  standard  designs. 

When  the  paint  was  dry,  he  ran  a  broad  ring  of  glue  above  and 
below  it,  at  the  site  of  the  subsequent  binding  which  holds  the  feathers. 
This  he  let  dry. 

Many  kinds  of  feathers  were  used  by  Ishi  on  his  arrows — eagle, 
hawk,  owl,  buzzard,  wild  goose,  heron,  quail,  pigeon,  flicker,  turkey, 
bluejay.  He  preferred  eagle  feathers  but  admitted  that  they  were 
very  hard  to  get.  While  with  us  he  used  either  the  tail  or  pinion 
feathers  from  the  domestic  turkey.  Like  the  best  archers  he  put  three 
feathers  from  the  same  wring  on  each  arrow. 

The  first  process  of  preparing  the  feather  was  to  separate  its  laminae 
at  the  tip  and  split  the  shaft  down  its  length  by  pulling  it  apart. 
Only  the  strip  forming  the  posterior  part  of  the  original  quill  was 
used.  He  placed  one  end  of  this  strip  on  a  rock,  clamping  his  great 
toe  firmly  upon  it,  and  pulled  it  taut  with  the  left  hand,  while  with  a 
sharp  knife  he  shaved  the  upper  surface  of  the  aftershaft  or  rib  to 
the  thinness  of  paper.  By  scraping  with  an  obsidian  chip  he  now 
reduced  it  to  translucent  thinness,  leaving  no  pith  on  it.  Feathers  so 
scraped  are  very  flexible  but  the  laminae  tend  to  stand  at  an  angle  of 


11-4  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

thirty  degrees  from  the  perpendicular  when  set  on  the  arrow.  Hav 
ing  finished  many  feathers  this  way  he  collected  them  in  groups  of 
three,  according  to  their  similarity  of  form  and  color,  and  bound  each 
group  with  a  short  bit  of  thread.  When  ready  to  apply  them  to  the 
arrow,  these  sets  of  three,  each  set  from  the  same  wing,  were  soaked 
in  warm  water.  When  soft,  the  feathers  were  shaken  dry,  separated, 
and  each  tested  for  its  strength  by  pulling  its  two  extremities.  Then, 
gathering  about  half  an  inch  of  laminae  with  the  tip  of  the  aftershaft 
and  holding  this  end  securely,  he  ruffled  the  rest  of  the  laminae  back 
ward,  in  order  to  have  a  clear  space  over  which  to  apply  sinewr  in 
the  next  stage.  Each  feather  in  turn  was  thus  made  ready. 

Very  delicate  deer  tendons,  having  been  split  and  soaked  in  water, 
were  now  chewed  to  a  stringy  pulp  and  drawn  from  the  mouth  in  thin 
ribbons  about  a  foot  long.  One  end  he  held  by  the  teeth,  the  other 
was  attached  to  the  arrow  by  a  couple  of  turns  near  the  nock.  He 
then  placed  each  feather  in  succession  in  its  position ;  one  perpen 
dicular  to  the  nock,  two  at  its  opposite  edges,  making  equidistant 
spaces  between  them.  As  he  rotated  the  shaft,  the  tendon  being  held 
in  his  teeth,  he  bound  the  rib  and  a  half  inch  of  laminae  together 
down  to  the  shaft,  smoothing  all  with  his  thumb  nail  at  the  last.  The 
reversed  position  of  the  rest  of  the  laminae  at  this  point  made  his  work 
easy.  Having  treated  one  arrow,  he  let  it  dry  while  he  fixed  each  of 
the  remaining  four. 

The  next  step  was  to  draw  the  anterior  extremity  of  the  feathering 
down  into  position.  Beginning  at  the  last  painted  ring  where  the  glue 
commenced,  he  stripped  off  the  laminae  in  preparation  for  the  appli 
cation  of  tendons.  Again  he  spun  out  a  ribbon  of  tissue,  and  setting 
each  feather  in  place,  holding  the  top  one  with  his  left  thumb,  and  the 
other  two  with  the  first  and  second  fingers  respectively,  he  began  bind 
ing  with  the  sinew.  After  proceeding  a  few  turns,  he  released  his 
hold  and  straightened  each  feather  to  its  final  position,  which  was 
about  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  off  the  direct  line  down  the  arrow,  veer 
ing  off  slightly  toward  the  concave  side  of  the  feather.  Now,  drawing 
the  feathers  tight  and  snug,  he  cut  the  rib  about  half  an  inch  long 
and  completed  the  binding  by  rotation,  plus  a  final  smoothing  with  his 
thumb  nail.  In  applying  the  tendon,  he  was  careful  to  make  a  close 
spiral,  never  overlapping  his  sinew  except  at  the  last  few  turns.  Each 
arrow,  being  thus  feathered,  was  put  in  the  sunshine  to  dry.  After  a 
number  of  hours  he  would  pick  up  a  shaft  and  by  beating  it  gently 
against  his  palm,  restore  the  laminae  to  their  natural  direction,  fluffing 


Pope:  Yahi  Archery  llo 

out  the  feathering.  After  having  stroked  the  thoroughly  dry  feathers 
to  settle  them,  he  trimmed  them  by  laying  them  on  a  flat  piece  of 
wood,  using  a  straight  stick  as  a  ruler  and  running  a  sharp  chip  of 
obsidian  along  this  edge.  Obsidian  flakes  are  quite  as  sharp  as  a  good 
razor,  and  cut  feathers  better. 

His  feather  usually  had  a  straight  edge,  and  had  a  height  of  ys 
inch  at  the  forward  end  and  %  or  1/2  inch  at  the  nock  end.  Sometimes 
they  were  cut  in  a  slightly  concave  line,  and  usually  no  trimming  was 
done  near  the  nock,  but  the  natural  curve  of  the  feather  tip  was  left 
here,  making  a  graceful  finish  to  his  work. 

Instead  of  standing  perpendicularly  to  the  shaft,  as  has  been 
recommended  by  our  ancient  English  archers,  Ishi's  feathers  were  set 
at  an  angle  to  his  arrow  and  tended  to  fall  or  lie  closer  to  the  shaft 
after  much  use  or  being  carried  in  the  quiver.  This  position  does 
seem  to  have  the  advantage,  however,  of  giving  a  better  spin  to  the 
arrows  in  flight,  which,  of  course,  tends  toward  greater  accuracy. 
Some  of  Ishi's  feathers  were  not  more  than  three  inches  long,  and 
those  on  his  exhibition  or  war  arrows  were  the  full  length  of  a  hawk's 
pinions — almost  a  foot. 

In  none  of  his  arrows  which  were  made  in  the  wilds  was  there  any 
evidence  of  glue  between  the  feather  and  arrow  shaft ;  but  while  with 
us  he  occasionally  ran  a  little  glue  beneath  his  feather  after  binding 
it  on. 

In  his  native  state,  he  seems  to  have  used  no  protective  over  the 
sinew  to  keep  out  moisture — not  even  fat — nor  did  he  apply  any  finish 
or  varnish  to  the  surface  of  his  shafts. 

The  arrow  in  the  condition  just  described  was  now  accurately  cut 
to  a  certain  length.  His  method  of  measurement  was  to  hold  the  butt 
against  his  own  sternal  notch  and  then,  reaching  along  the  shaft  with 
his  left  hand,  almost  in  his  shooting  position  (as  described  below),  he 
cut  the  shaft  off  at  the  end  of  his  left  forefinger.  This  gave  a  length 
of  about  twenty-nine  inches.  The  cutting  of  the  shaft  was  done  with 
a  filing  motion  of  an  obsidian  knife.  Later  he  used  a  bit  of  broken 
hack-saw.  The  point  of  the  shaft  was  then  slightly  rounded,  and  if 
intended  for  small  game,  bound  with  sinew.  If  obsidian  points  were 
to  be  used,  a  notch  similar  to  that  intended  for  the  bow  string  was 
made,  and  so  cut  that  when  the  arrow  was  drawn  on  the  bow,  this 
notch  was  in  a  perpendicular  position.  The  idea  in  placing  the  head, 
in  a  vertical  plane  was  that  in  this  position  it  entered  between  the 
ribs  of  an  animal  more  readily. 


116  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

Ishi  did  not  seem  to  know  that  in  flight  an  arrow  revolves  quite 
rapidly  and  necessarily  must  shift  from  its  plane  immediately  upon 
leaving  the  bow.  With  the  old  English  archers,  the  broad-head  was 
placed  in  the  same  plane  with  the  nock,  for  the  same  mistaken  reason. 
With  the  English,  of  course,  the  bow  is  held  almost  perpendicular, 
while  with  most  Indians,  as  with  Ishi,  the  bow  has  a  more  or  less 
horizontal  position  in  shooting. 

ARROW  POINTS' 

For  making  arrowheads,  bone  and  obsidian  and  flint  were  used  by 
the  Yahi.  Flint  Ishi  designated  as  pana  k'aina  and  seemed  to  like  it 
because  of  its  varied  colors.  But  hahJca  or  obsidian  was  in  commoner 
use,  and  among  the  Yahi  it  served  even  as  money.  Boulders  of  obsi 
dian  were  traded  from  tribe  to  tribe  throughout  his  country.  They 
probably  came  by  way  of  the  Hat  Creek  Indians  from  Shasta  County 
and  other  districts  where  this  volcanic  glass  was  prevalent. 

A  boulder  of  obsidian  was  shattered  by  throwing  another  rock  on 
it.  The  chunks  thus  obtained  were  broken  into  smaller  size  by  hold 
ing  a  short  segment  of  deer  horn  or  piece  of  bone  against  a  projecting 
surface,  and  smartly  striking  it  a  glancing  blow  with  a  stone.  The 
resulting  flakes  of  obsidian  best  suited  for  arrowheads  were  roughly 
three  inches  long,  an  inch  and  a  half  wide  and  half  an  inch  thick. 
Selecting  one  of  these,  according  to  its  shape  and  grain,  he  began  the 
flaking  process. 

Protecting  the  palm  of  his  left  hand  by  means  of  a  piece  of  buck 
skin,  and  resting  the  left  elbow  on  the  left  knee,  he  held  the  obsidian 
tightly  against  the  palm  by  folding  his  fingers  over  it.  The  flaker 
was  a  piece  of  deer  horn  bound  to  a  stick  about  a  foot  long.  Holding 
this  instrument  securely  in  his  right  hand,  the  stick  resting  beneath 
the  forearm  for  leverage,  he  pressed  the  point  of  the  horn  against  the 
obsidian  edge  with  vigor,  and  fractured  or  flaked  off  a  small  bit.  By 
reversing  the  position  of  the  obsidian  in  his  hand  and  attacking  the 
opposite  edge  with  the  flaking  tool,  repeating  in  a  painstaking  way 
this  manceuver  after  several  flakings,  he  slowly  fashioned  his  arrow 
point,  making  long  deep  chips  or  light  finishing  flakes,  as  the  condi 
tion  required.  He  used  deer  horn  for  the  heavier  work,  but  while 
with  us  he  chiefly  employed  a  soft  iron  rod  three-sixteenths  of  an  inch 
in  diameter  and  eight  inches  long,  having  a  handle  or  padding  of  cloth 


5  Compare  the  article  by  N.  C.  Nelson,  Flint  Working  by  Ishi,  in  the  Holmes 
Anniversary  Volume,  Washington,  1916,  pp.  397-401. 


1918]  Pope:  Talil  Archery  117 

bound  about  it  for  a  distance  of  six  inches.  The  tool  must  be  a  sub 
stance  that  will  dent  slightly  and  thus  engage  the  sharp  edge  of 
obsidian.  Tempered  steel  utterly  fails  to  serve  this  purpose.  His 
flaking  tools  were  shaped  something  like  a  screw  driver,  only  rounded 
instead  of  square  at  the  point.  These  he  filed  quite  sharp.  When  the 
obsidian  had  assumed  the  desired  triangular  shape,  he  exchanged  his 
buckskin  pad  for  a  sort  of  thumb-piece  of  the  same  material.  Hold 
ing  the  arrow  point  firmly  on  this  with  the  left  index  finger,  he  selected 
a  small  flaking  tool  about  the  side  of  a  shoemaker's  awl,  made  of  a 
wire  nail  driven  into  a  wooden  handle,  and  fashioned  the  notches  near 
the  base  of  the  arrowhead  by  pressing  the  point  of  the  flaking  tool 
against  the  ball  of  the  thumb. 

To  make  a  head  of  this  type  required  about  half  an  hour.  He 
made  them  in  all  sizes  and  shapes.  Large  spike-like  heads  were  for 
gift  arrows  and  war.  Medium  size  heads,  perhaps  l1/^  inches  long, 
%  inch  wide,  and  14  inch  thick,  were  for  ordinary  deer  shooting,  while 
small,  flat  oval  heads  were  for  shooting  bear. 

Apparently  it  was  Yahi  custom  to  do  most  of  the  making  of  bows 
and  arrows  away  from  the  camp,  in  secluded  spots  particularly  favor 
able  to  this  employment.  At  least  this  was  true  of  the  making  of 
arrowheads;  partially  so,  no  doubt,  because  of  the  danger  entailed, 
and  partially  because  it  was  strictly  a  man's  job. 

Ishi  said  that  the  men  congregated  in  a  circle,  in  a  warm  sunny 
place,  painted  their  faces  with  black  mud  to  keep  the  flying  flakes 
out  of  their  eyes,  and  maintained  silence — either  for  ceremonial  pur 
poses  or  to  avoid  getting  pieces  of  flint  or  glass  in  the  mouth.  Among 
their  theories  of  disease,  the  one  which  they  most  usually  invoked  was 
the  supposed  presence  of  bits  of  obsidian  or  spines  of  cactus  and 
similar  sharp  objects  in  the  system.  The  medicine  man  gave  support 
to  this  theory,  moreover,  by  the  "magical"  extraction  of  such  objects 
from  his  patients,  by  means  of  sucking  the  painful  spot. 

If  by  chance  a  bit  of  glass  flew  in  the  eye  while  flaking  arrowheads, 
Ishi  would  pull  down  his  lower  ejrelid  with  the  left  forefinger,  being 
careful  not  to  blink  or  rub  the  lid.  Then  he  bent  over,  looking  at  the 
ground,  and  gave  himself  a  tremendous  thump  on  the  crown  of  the 
head  with  the  right  hand.  This  was  supposed  to  dislodge  the  foreign 
body  from  the  eye. 

After  much  close  work  he  frequently  suffered  from  eyestrain  head 
ache.  His  distant  vision  was  excellent,  but  like  many  Indians  he  was 
astigmatic.  He  also  complained  of  fatigue  and  cramp  in  his  hands 
after  prolonged  flaking. 


118  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arcli.  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

The  arrowheads  were  first  set  in  the  shaft  by  heating  pine  resin, 
and  applying  it  to  the  notched  end,  then  moulding  it  about  the  base 
of  the  obsidian  point.  When  firm,  the  point  was  further  secured  by 
binding  it  with  sinew,  back  and  forth,  about  the  tangs  and  around 
the  shaft.  Three  wraps  were  made  about  each  notch,  and  the  tendon 
\vas  wound  about  the  arrow  for  the  distance  of  half  an  inch  imme 
diately  below  the  arrowhead.  After  drying,  this  secured  the  head 
very  firmly  and  was  quite  smooth.  A  little  polishing  with  sandstone 
gave  a  fine  finish  to  the  bin  ^ing. 

These  heads  frequently  were  ke"pt  in  a  little  bag  of  skin,  and  not 
attached  to  the  arrow  till  a  few  hours  before  the  expected  hunt.  Extra 
heads  were  kept  in  readiness  to  substitute  for  those  broken  during 
use.  Large  oval  blades  were  bound  on  short  handles  and  used  as 
knives.  Still  larger  blades  of  the  same  type,  on  a  long  handle,  were 
used  as  spears. 

After  some  experience  in  shooting  at  targets,  Ishi  devised  a  sub 
stitute  for  the  regular  target  arrow  pile,  or  head.  He  made  blunt 
points  from  thin  brass  tubing  or  steel  umbrella  sticks,  cut  into  one 
inch  lengths.  He  filed  these  with  deep  transverse  notches  across  one 
end  and  pounded  this  portion  into  a  blunt  conical  shape.  These  heads 
he  set  on  his  shafts  with  glue. 

THE  QUIVER 

When  upon  a  prolonged  hunt,  Ishi  carried  as  many  as  sixty  arrows 
with  him,  though  his  quiver  seldom  contained  more  than  a  score.  The 
extra  arrows  he  kept  covered  with  a  skin  and  bound  with  buckskin 
thongs,  and  he  carried  them  slung  over  his  shoulder. 

His  quiver,  now  in  the  University  Museum,  was  made  from  the 
skin  of  an  otter,  the  fur  side  out,  and  the  hair  running  upward.  It 
measures  34  inches  in  length,  8  inches  in  width  at  the  upper  end,  and 
4  inches  at  the  lower.  The  skin  had  been  removed  whole,  save  for  an 
incision  over  the  buttocks.  The  hind  legs  had  been  split  and  left 
dangling,  wiiile  the  fore  legs  were  twro  sheaths  of  skin  inverted  within 
the  quiver.  The  mouth  was  sewn  with  tendon,  and  the  split  tail  served 
as  a  carrying  strap.  Four  punctures  in  the  animal's  back  showed 
where  the  toggles  of  a  salmon  spear  had  entered  and  had  had  exit, 
indicating  its  method  of  capture.  A  strip  of  buckskin  was  also  stitched 
to  the  outlet  of  the  quiver,  and,  running  inside,  was  again  stitched 
two-thirds  of  the  way  down.  Its  use  seems  to  have  been  as  a  carrying 
strap. 


1918] 


Pope:  Yahi  Archery 


Besides  his  arrows  he  carried  his  bow  in  the  quiver,  and  slung 
all  over  the  left  shoulder.  It  was  not  easy  to  extract  arrows  from  the 
quiver  quickly,  so  it  was  customary  to  carry  a  few  in  the  hand.  These, 
during  the  act  of  shooting,  Ishi  either  laid  on  the  ground  or  held 
beneath  his  right  arm.  Owing  to  his  peculiar  method  of  shooting,  this 
did  not  interfere  when  he  drew  his  bow. 


HANDLING  OF  THE  BOW 

His  system  of  shooting  was  as  follows :  Taking  his  bow  from  the 
quiver,  he  placed  the  lower  end  on  his  partially  flexed  left  thigh. 
While  he  held  the  bow  by  the  center  with  the  left  hand — its  back  was 
down — his  right  hand  caught  the  string  between  forefinger  and  thumb. 
The  other  fingers  held  the  upper  end  near  the  nock.  Now,  depressing 
the  handle  and  bending  the  bow,  he  slipped  the  loop  of  the  string  over 
the  nock.  If,  perchance,  the  string  were  too  long,  he  unstrung  the 


fchi's 

tow  hand. 


bow  and  twisted  the  string  till  it  shortened  to  the  proper  length,  when 
he  again  bent  and  braced  his  bow.  When  strung,  the  distance  between 
the  string  and  the  hand  grip  was  about  four  and  a  half  inches.  He 
then  would  place  four  or  five  arrows  beneath  his  right  arm,  points  to 
the  front,  leaving  one  in  the  hand.  Holding  the  bow  diagonally  across 
the  body,  the  upper  end  to  the  left,  he  "nocked"  his  arrow  by  lay- 


120 


University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arch,  and  EtJtn.       [Vol. 


ing  it  on  the  right  side  of  the  bow.  It  crossed  the  middle  of  the  bow 
where  the  first  and  second  fingers  of  the  left  hand  received  it  and  held 
it  from  slipping ;  it  was  also  a  little  distance  away  from  the  bow.  This 
refinement  of  technique  was  necessary  to  avoid  rubbing  the  feathers, 
which  were  longer  than  the  space  between  the  bow  and  the  string. 
The  bow  itself  he  clamped  in  the  notch  between  the  thumb  and  fingers 
of  the  left  hand.  He  did  not  grip  it  tightly,  even  when  full  drawn. 
It  poised  in  this  notch,  and  even  when  the  arrow  was  released  it  was 
only  retained  from  springing  from  the  hand  by  a  light  touch  of  his 
fingers.  Some  Indians,  he  said,  had  a  little  strap  on  the  handle  to 
prevent  the  bow  jumping  out  of  the  hand. 

The  arrow,  when  full  drawn,  rested  on  the  bow,  steadied  in  position 
by  the  slight  touch  of  his  thumb  on  one  side,  the  middle  finger  tip  at 
the  other.  When  the  arrow  left  the  string,  at  the  moment  of  release, 
the  bow  revolved,  or  turned  over  completely,  in  his  hand,  so  that  the 
back  of  the  bow  was  toward  him. 


Ishrs  release 


The  arrow  release  (the  letting  fly  of  the  arrow)  was  a  modification 
of  that  known  as  the  Mongolian  type.  That  is,  he  "drew"  the  bow 
with  the  right  thumb  flexed  beneath  the  string.  On  the  thumb  nail 
he  laid  the  end  of  the  middle  finger,  to  strengthen  the  hold.  The 
index  finger,  completely  flexed,  rested  on  the  arrow  to  keep  it  from 
slipping  from  the  string.  The  extremities  of  the  feathers,  being  near 
the  nock,  were  neatly  folded  along  the  shaft  in  the  grip  of  these 
fingers,  to  prevent  them  from  being  ruffled. 

Ishi  knew  of  several  releases,  saying  that  certain  other  tribes  used 
them.  The  primary  type,  that  where  the  arrow  butt  is  gripped  between 
the  thumb  and  the  flexed  forefinger,  he  said  certain  Indians  used, 
and  it  seemed  to  be  a  criterion  of  strength. 


191 8  I  Pope:  Ytihi  Archer;/  121 

There  are  five  known  types  of  arrow  release  or  methods  of  holding 
the  arrow  on  the  string  while  the  bow  is  drawn.  These  were  determined 
and  named  by  E.  S.  Morse." 

The  Primary  release  is  that  most  naturally  used  by  the  novice. 
He  draws  the  arrow  by  pinching  it  between  his  thumb  and  flexed 
forefinger.  This  is  not  a  strong  grip  on  the  arrow,  though  practice 
undoubtedly  strengthens  the  hold.  No  robust  archery,  according  to 
English  standards,  has  ever  been  done  with  this  release.  Yet  it  is 
the  only  one  reported  from  many  primitive  peoples,  perhaps  even  the 
method  most  commonly  followed  by  uncivilized  tribes. 

The  Secondary  release  is  similar,  but  the  middle  finger  assists  in 
the  pull  by  pressing  on  the  string. 

The  Tertiary  release  holds  the  arrow  between  the  thumb  and 
straightened  forefinger.  It  may  also  place  other  fingers  on  the  string 
to  assist  in  the  pull. 

The  Mongolian  or  Asiatic  release  is  chiefly  used  with  the  composite 
bow,  and  consists  of  pulling  the  string  with  the  flexed  thumb,  more  or 
less  supported  by  the  other  fingers,  while  the  arrow  is  merely  steadied 
in  position  by  contact  with  the  forefinger,  and  by  being  held  in  the 
angle  between  the  thumb  and  forefinger.  This  method  reaches  full 
effectiveness  when  a  sharp-edged  thumb  ring  is  worn  to  engage  the 
string. 

The  Mediterranean  release  was  known  to  the  ancients  and  is  that 
used  in  English  archery  and  by  the  Eskimo.  The  first  three  fingers, 
unassisted  by  the  thumb,  draw  the  string,  while  the  engaged  arrow 
rests  between  the  first  and  second  fingers. 

Tshi's  release  is  of  peculiar  interest  because  its  precise  type  has 
never  been  described  before ;  also  because  the  fundamental  method  of 
which  it  is  a  variety,  the  Mongolian,  has  until  now  not  been  reported 
in  America. 

A  series  of  tests  of  the  comparative  strength  of  these  various  arrow 
releases,  made  by  the  writer  with  a  spring  scale  attached  to  an  arrow 
and  cord,  yields  the  following  average  pulls : 

Primary,  25  pounds. 

Primary,  with  an  arrow  having  a  grip  or  notch  in  the  end  to  assist  the  draw, 

35  pounds. 

Secondary,  40  pounds. 
Tertiary,  60  pounds. 
Mongolian,  45  pounds. 

Mongolian,  with  a  Japanese-type  shooting  glove  to  protect  the  thumb,  55 
pounds. 
Mediterranean,    80    pounds. 


•'Bulletin  of  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  xvn,  145-198,  1885. 


122  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arcli.  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

Greater  experience  may  have  somewhat  favored  the  result  for  the 
Mediterranean  method,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  the  most  power 
ful  of  all  known  releases. 

As  Ishi  drew  with  the  back  of  his  hand  uppermost,  he  extended  his 
bowarm  horizontally  and  kept  it  straight,  midway  between  a  lateral 
and  forward  position.  His  right  hand  he  drew  till  its  back  came 
beneath  his  chin,  the  end  of  his  radius  touching  the  top  of  his  sternum. 
Thus  he  looked  straight  along  his  arrow  with  both  eyes  open.  In  this 
position  his  eyes  were  considerably  above  the  nock  of  the  arrow  and 
he  therefore  had  to  allow  for  over-shooting  his  mark. 

He  changed  the  position  of  his  drawing  hand  for  different  ranges. 
For  near  shots,  his  right  hand  was  often  drawn  as  high  as  his  mouth. 
His  extreme  length  of  draw  was  not  over  twenty-six  inches,  while  for 
small  game  and  near  shots  he  shortened  this  to  eighteen  or  twenty 
inches.  He  never  drew  any  shaft  to  the  head.  In  drawing,  his  right 
arm  was  held  close  to  the  body,  while  the  shoulder  was  markedly 
elevated.  This  gave  him  a  hunched  appearance,  but  it  permitted  him 
to  hold  arrows  under  his  arm,  and  in  other  ways  must  have  favored 
his  peculiar  mode  of  shooting.  It  also  threw  his  right  arm  and  fore 
arm  into  the  same  plane  with  his  bow. 

Before  making  any  careful  shot  it  was  his  invariable  habit  to 
glance  down  his  arrow  and  straighten  with  his  fingers  any  slight 
curvature  that  might  be  present. 

Nocking,  drawing,  aiming,  and  releasing,  all  were  done  within 
three  seconds.  He  dwelt  on  his  aim  about  a  second,  and  shot  entirely 
by  intuition,  not  by  point  of  aim.  For  long  shots  he  attempted  to  assist 
the  flight  of  his  arrow  by  quickly  pushing  forward  his  bow  arm  as 
he  shot. 

A  point  blank  range  is  that  condition  in  aiming  where  the  tip  of 
the  arrow  seems  to  rest  on  the  object  to  be  hit.  With  him  this  was  about 
fifty  yards,  and  at  over  sixty  yards  his  bow  hand  obscured  his  vision,  so 
that  he  first  aimed,  then  further  elevated  his  bow  hand  before  releasing. 
With  the  English  method  of  shooting,  where  the  arrow  lies  at  the  left 
of  the  bow,  the  hand  does  not  interfere  with  the  vision,  unless  in  shots 
of  more  than  a  hundred  yards,  because  the  left  eye  can  see  past  the 
hand. 

After  discharge  of  his  arrow,  Ishi  maintained  his  shooting  position 
for  a  second,  as  good  archers  always  do.  He  preferred  to  shoot  kneel 
ing  or  squatting;  this  seems  to  have  been  the  best  posture  for  game 
shooting.  In  kneeling,  he  usually  placed  his  right  knee  on  the  ground. 


1918]  Pope:  Yahi  Archery  123 

Shooting  with  us,  especially  at  targets,  he  stood  facing  the  target,  or 
turning  his  left  side  slightly  toward  it.  His  position  was  rather 
insecure,  knees  flexed  a  trifle,  feet  about  four  inches  apart.  His  body 
he  held  quite  erect,  though  in  stalking  game  he  shot  from  a  crouching 
position. 

He  never  used  a  wrist  guard  or  "bracer"  on  his  left  arm  to  pro 
tect  it  from  the  string,  although  he  nearly  always  pulled  up  his  shirt 
sleeve.  This  was  to  avoid  striking  any  clothing  writh  the  string,  which 
would  check  the  flight  of  the  arrow.  At  times  the  string  did  strike 
his  forearm,  and  bruise  it,  and  after  prolonged  shooting  his  left  wrist 
was  often  sore  and  ecchymosed.  Leather  protection  for  his  forefinger 
he  sometimes  used  in  target  shooting,  but  neither  the  glove  nor  bracer 
seemed  needed  for  the  intermittent  shooting  during  a  hunt. 

In  nocking  his  arrow,  he  paid  no  particular  attention  to  the  cock 
feather,  or  that  opposite  the  nock.  It  rested  against  the  bow  as  often 
as  away  from  it.  With  nearly  all  modern  archers,  this  is  considered 
very  bad  technique.  Since  most  of  the  feathers  were  soft,  this  however 
did  not  seem  much  to  disturb  the  flight  of  the  arrow. 


ISHFS  RECORDS  WITH  THE  BOW 

There  are  no  records  of  aboriginal  archery  with  which  to  compare 
those  of  civilized  times.  That  the  American  Indian  was  a  good  shot  is 
conceded  by  all  who  know  him,  and  fiction  makes  him  out  an  incom 
parable  archer,  capable  of  deeds  outrivaling  those  of  William  Tell  and 
the  redoubtable  Robin  of  Sherwood  Forest.  But  no  authentic  scores 
exist.  It  is  therefore  a  privilege  to  have  been  able  to  compare  the 
shooting  of  an  unspoiled  American  Indian  writh  that  of  modern  archers. 

So  far  as  target  shooting  is  concerned,  it  is  well  known  that  the 
greatest  archer  of  all  times  was  Horace  Ford  of  England,  whose  records 
of  1857  were  not  approached  by  any  in  history,  and  have  not  been 
surpassed  since. 

There  are  two  well  recognized  rounds  in  archery.  The  English  or 
York  round  consists  in  shooting  six  dozen  arrows  at  one  hundred  yards, 
four  dozen  at  eighty  yards,  and  two  dozen  at  sixty  yards,  and  adding 
the  score  thus  attained.  The  American  round  consists  in  shooting 
thirty  arrows  at  each  of  the  distances,  sixty,  fifty,  and  forty  yards. 
The  target  used  is  a  circular  straw*  mat  four  feet  in  diameter,  four 
inches  thick,  covered  with  a  facing  on  which  are  five  concentric  rings. 
The  central  ring  or  gold  is  nine  and  one-half  inches  in  diameter,  while 


124  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

each  circle  is  one-half  this  in  width.     Their  values  are  9,  7,  5,  3,  1 
points. 

Because  of  the  great  distance,  and  his  inability  to  hit  the  target 
often  enough  to  warrant  compiling  a  score,  Ishi  seldom  shot  the  York 
round.  But  we  have  many  records  of  his  scores  at  the  American 
round.  It  must  be  conceded  that  an  archer  may  be  a  poor  target  shot 
and  yet  at  the  same  time  be  a  practical  and  accurate  archer  in  hunting. 
Ishi's  best  scores  at  the  American  round  are  as  follows,  30  arrows  being 
shot  at  each  distance: 

October  23,  3914. 

60  yards,  10  hits,  32  score 

50  yards,  20  hits,  92  score,  2  golds 

40  yards,  19  hits,  99  score,  2  golds 

Total 49  hits,  223  score  4  golds 

May  30,  1915. 

60  yards,  ]3  hits,  51  score 

50  yards,  17  hits,  59  score 

40  yards,  23  hits,  95  score,  1  gold 

Total 53  hits.  205  score,   1  gold 

The  best  score  for  the  American  round  is  at  present  held  by  E.  J. 
Rendtorff,  and  is  thus  recorded : 

60  yards,  30  hits,  208  score 
50  yards,  30  hits,  226  score 
40  yards,  30  hits,  234  score 

Total 90  hits,  668  score 

A  good  score  will  total  90  hits,  500  score.  My  own  best  round  is  88 
hits,  538  score. 

At  ten  and  twenty  yards  Ishi  was  proportionately  much  more 
accurate,  and  while  not  consistent,  he  could  hit  objects  three  or  four 
inches  in  diameter  with  such  frequency  that  it  was  a  commonplace 
event.  Out  of  every  five  arrows,  one  or  two  surely  would  reach  the 
mark.  In  his  native  state,  his  targets  were  small  bundles  of  straw 
about  the  size  of  a  rabbit  or  quail,  or  he  shot  at  a  small  hoop  in  motion. 

At  shooting  on  the  wing  or  at  running  game,  he  did  not  seem  to 
be  correspondingly  adept.  At  so-called  turtle  shooting,  or  shooting 
up  in  the  air  and  having  the  arrow  strike  the  object  in  descent,  he  was 
not  proficient.  In  rapid  shooting  he  could  just  discharge  his  third 
arrow  while  two  were  in  the  air;' unlike  the  alleged  performance  of 
Hiawatha,  he  could  not  keep  ten  shafts  aloft  at  once.  Catlin  reports 
that  the  Mandans  could  keep  eight  arrows  in  the  air  at  one  time. 


1918J  Pope:  Yahi  Archery  125 

Ishi's  greatest  flight  shot  was  185  yards.  No  doubt  had  he  prepared 
himself  for  distance  shooting  he  could  have  surpassed  this ;  but  using 
his  40-pound  hunting  bow  and  the  lightest  arrow  in  his  quiver,  this  was 
his  extreme  length.  After  Ishi's  death,  I  shot  his  bow,  with  an  espe 
cially  light  arrow  with  a  closely  cropped  feather,  a  distance  of  200 
yards.  The  greatest  modern  shot  was  that  done  by  Ingo  Simon,  at  La 
Toquet,  France,  in  3914,  of  459  yards,  with  a  very  old  Turkish  com 
posite  bow.  The  greatest  recorded  flight  shot  with  the  English  long 
bow  was  made  by  John  Rawlins  in  1794,  a  distance  of  360  yards. 
The  best  American  flight  shot  is  290  yards,  done  by  L.  "W.  Maxson,  in 
3891.  Shooting  a  six-foot  yew  bow  weighing  75  pounds  with  a  flight 
arrow,  my  own  best  shot  is  275  yards. 

To  ascertain  the  casting  power  of  what  Ishi  considered  an  ideal  bow, 
I  had  him  select  one  that  he  considered  the  best,  from  the  entire  num 
ber  in  the  Museum.  This  was  a  Yurok  bow  of  yew  heavily  backed  with 
sinew  and  corresponded  closely  in  proportions  to  those  of  his  own  make. 
After  warming  it  carefully  and  bracing  it,  Ishi  shot  a  number  of  light 
flight  arrows.  His  greatest  cast  was  only  175  yards.  Its  weight  was 
less  than.  40  pounds. 

Besides  the  fact  that  Ishi,  in  common  with  all  savages,  failed  to 
understand  the  optics  and  ballistics  of  archery,  his  arrows  were  of 
such  unequal  weight  and  dissimilar  shape  and  size,  that  it  is  not  sur 
prising  that  his  markmanship  was  erratic.  A  difference  of  ten  grains 
in  the  weight  of  a  shaft,  or  a  slight  difference  in  the  height  of  the 
feathers,  will  cause  an  arrow  shot  sixty  yards  to  fly  several  feet  higher 
or  lower  than  its  predecessor. 

The  length  of  time  required  for  Ishi's  hunting  shafts  to  fly  100 
yards  was  4  seconds.  The  angle  of  trajection  was  30  degrees.  The 
weight  of  these  arrows  was  1  ounce ;  their  power  of  penetration  was 
sufficient  to  pierce  our  target,  which  consisted  of  a  piece  of  oil  cloth,  2 
gunny  sacks,  and  4  inches  of  straw  target,  entirely  traversing  these 
bodies.  A  steel  hunting  point,  shot  from  40  yards,  readily  penetrated 
an  inch  into  pine.  On  striking  a  tree,  the  entire  point  and  an  inch  of 
the  shaft  were  often  buried  in  the  trunk. 

The  angle  of  elevation  necessary  for  his  arrow  to  fly  one  hundred 
yards  is  much  greater  than  that  needed  for  our  target  arrows.  Shoot 
ing  a  48-pound  bow  with  a  five-shilling,  or  one-ounce  arrow,  my  eleva 
tion  is  15  degrees,  while  under  the  same  conditions  with  a  65-pound 
bow  it  is  as  low  as  10  degrees.  The  time  required  for  a  100-yard  flight 
of  this  latter  is  2%  seconds.  The  average  velocity  of  an  arrow  is 
reckoned  at  120  feet  a  second. 


126  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 


HUNTING 

At  a  very  early  period  in  our  association  with  the  Yahi,  we  under 
took  various  little  hunting  excursions,  and  upon  two  occasions  went 
upon  extended  trips  into  the  mountains. 

In  shooting  small  game,  such  as  quail,  squirrels,  and  rabbits,  Ishi 
was  very  proficient.  His  method  was  that  of  still  hunting;  walking 
over  the  ground  very  quiet  and  alert,  always  paying  particular  atten 
tion  to  wind,  noise,  and  cover.  He  was  indefatigable  in  the  persistence 
with  which  he  stalked  game,  and  seldom  left  a  clump  of  brush  in/ 
which  he  knew  or  suspected  the  presence  of  game,  until  all  means  of 
getting  it  had  been  tried. 

His  vision  was  particularly  well  trained,  and  invariably  he  sighted 
the  game  first.  This  acumen  was  manifest  also  in  the  finding  of  arrows. 
Ishi  nearly  always  could  find  a  shaft  in  the  grass  or  brush  where  we 
overlooked  it. 

He  shot  rabbits  as  close  as  five  yards.  On  the  other  hand  I  have 
seen  him  shoot  a  squirrel  through  the  head  at  forty  yards.  The  usual 
killing  distance  was  between  ten  and  twenty  yards.  Game  was  nearly 
always  shot  while  standing  still,  although  an  occasional  rabbit  was  shot 
running.  Arrows  striking  these  small  animals  frequently  passed  com 
pletely  through  them.  Death  did  not  always  result  from  the  first 
shot,  and  one  or  more  additional  arrows  were  sometimes  necessary  to 
kill. 

If  a  rabbit  were  shot  and  caught,  Ishi  would  break  all  its  legs  with 
his  hands,  then  lay  it  on  the  ground  to  die  from  the  shock.  This  seems 
to  have  been  a  hunting  custom,  and  he  seemed  to  dislike  having  the 
animal  die  in  his  hands.  Later,  he  adopted,  with  us,  the  more  humane 
method  of  tapping  his  game  on  the  head  to  kill  it. 

Animals  shot  at  do  not  always  become  alarmed,  should  the  arrow 
miss  them,  but  often  permit  several  shots  to  be  made.  Quail  struck 
with  an  arrow  in  fleshy  parts,  sometimes  fly,  or  attempt  to  fly.  with 
the  missile  transfixing  them,  and  are  only  detained  by  its  catching  in 
the  brush  or  foliage  of  trees. 

In  hunting  deer,  Ishi  was  particularly  careful  in  the  observance  of 
several  essential  precautions.  He  would  eat  no  fish  on  the  day  prior 
to  the  hunt,  because  the  odor  could  be  detected  by  deer,  he  said ;  nor 
would  he  have  the  odor  of  tobacco  smoke  about  him.  The  morning  of 
the  hunt  Ishi  bathed  himself  from  head  to  foot,  and  washed  his  mouth. 
Eating  no  food,  he  dressed  himself  in  a  shirt,  or  breech  clout.  Any 

\ 


1918]  Pope:  Yahi  Archery  127 

covering  on  the  legs  made  a  noise  while  in  the  brush,  and  a  sensitive 
skin  rather  favored  cautious  walking.  While  Ishi  was  proud  of  his 
shoes  acquired  in  civilization,  he  said  they  made  a  noise  like  a  horse, 
and  he  immediately  discarded  them  when  any  real  work  in  the  field^ 
was  encountered.  In  climbing  cliffs,  or  crossing  streams  or  trunks  o 
trees,  he  first  removed  his  shoes.  So  in  hunting  he  preferred  to 
barefoot,  and  the  strength  of  his  perfectly  shaped  feet  gave  him 
very  definite  advantage  over  his  civilized  companions. 

It  was  a  custom  among  his  people  to  practice  venesection  before 
hunting  expeditions.  From  Ishi's  description,  it  appeared  that  this 
consisted  of  simple  scarification  over  the  flexor  sides  of  the  forearm 
and  calf  of  the  leg.  This  was  supposed  to  strengthen  and  increase 
the  courage  of  the  hunter.  Small  chips  of  obsidian  were  used  in  thj 
process. 

In  hunting  deer,  Ishi  used  the  method  of  ambush.  It  was  customary 
in  his  tribe  to  station  archers  behind  certain  rocks  or  bushes  near 
well  known  deer  trails.  Then  a  band  of  Indians  beat  the  brush  at  a 
mile  or  so  distant,  driving  toward  those  in  hiding.  Upon  our  trip 
into  Tehama  County  with  Ishi,  he  showed  us  old  deer  trails  near  which 
curious  small  piles  of  rock  were  located  at  intervals  hardly  exceeding 
ten  yards.  These  he  indicated  as  ancient  spots  of  ambush.  They  were 
just  large  enough  to  shield  a  man  in  a  crouching  position.  The  moss 
and  lichen  on  them  spoke  of  considerable  age.  One  would  hardly 
notice  them  in  a  boulder  country,  but  the  evidence  of  crude  masonry 
was  apparent  when  one's  attention  was  called  to  them. 

In  approaching  game,  Ishi  wrould  rather  skirt  an  entire  mountain 
than  come  up  on  the  wind  side.  His  observance  of  this  rule  was  almost 
an  obsession.  He  tested  the  wind  by  wetting  his  little  finger.  In  travel 
over  the  country,  certain  places  would  appeal  to  him  as  ground  favor 
able  for  rabbits,  quail,  squirrel,  wildcats,  or  bear. 

His  hut  in  Deer  Creek  canon  was  built  on  an  old  bear  trail,  many 
of  these  animals  having  been  trapped  within  a  few  miles  by  an  old 
hermit-like  trapper  of  those  parts.  Years  ago  this  same  man  caught 
an  old  Indian  in  his  bear  trap,  maiming  him  for  life.  Ishi  admitted 
that  this  Indian  was  his  relative,  perhaps  his  uncle  or  stepfather. 

When  in  a  part  of  the  country  suitable  for  rabbits,  Ishi  would 
hide  himself  behind  a  bush  and  give  the  rabbit  call.  This  consists  of  a 
kissing  sound,  made  by  the  lips  with  two  fingers  pressed  against  them. 
It  is  a  shrill,  plaintive  squeak  or  cry,  identical  with  that  made  by  a 
rabbit  in  distress.  He  repeated  it  often,  and  with  heart-rending 


128  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.       \  Vol.  K> 

pathos.  He  said  that  jac-krabbits,  wildcats,  coyotes,  and  bear  would 
come  to  the  call.  The  first  came  to  protect  its  young ;  the  others  came 
expecting  food.  Upon  one  afternoon's  hunt,  to  test  the  truth  of  his 
assertions,  I  had  Ishi  repeat  this  call  twelve  times.  From  these  dozen 
calls  came  five  rabbits,  and  one  wildcat  emerged  from  the  brush  and 
approached  us.  Some  rabbits  came  from  a  distance  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  yards,  and  approached  within  ten  yards.  The  wildcat  came 
within  fifty  yards,  and  permitted  me  to  discharge  five  arrows  at  him 
before  a  glancing  hit  sent  him  into  the  forest. 

As  the  game  drew  near,  Ishi  kept  up  a  sucking  sort  of  kiss  with  his 
lips  while  he  adjusted  an  arrow  on  the  bow.  When  the  game  was 
within  a  dozen  yards,  he  shot. 

.  He  also  used  a  call  for  deer,  which  he  said  was  effective  only  when 
the  does  were  with  fawns.  He  took  a  new,  tender  leaf  of  a  madrone 
tree,  folded  it  lengthwise,  and  placing  it  between  his  lips,  sucked 
vigorously.  The  sound  produced  was  somewhat  similar  to  that  made 
when  a  small  boy  blows  on  a  blade  of  grass  held  between  his  thumbs. 
It  resembles  the  plaintive  bleat  of  a  fawn. 

In  decoying  deer,  Ishi  also  used  a  deer's  head.  He  had  one  in  his 
original  camp  from  which  the  horns  had  been  removed,  and  it  was 
stuffed  with  leaves  and  twigs.  This  he  placed  011  his  head,  and  raising 
it  above  a  bush,  attracted  the  attention  of  his  game,  stimulating  its 
curiosity  while  luring  it  within  bow  shot. 

In  none  of  our  trips  with  Ishi  were  we  able  to  kill  a  deer.  Upon 
several  occasions  we  secured  shots,  but  owing  to  the  distance,  fall  of 
the  ground,  or  lack  of  accuracy,  we  failed  to  hit.  The  nearest  shot 
was  at  sixty  yards,  and  this  is  well  beyond  the  Indian  range  of  effective 
ness.  That  it  is  possible,  however,  to  kill  large  game  with  the  bow. 
we  proved  upon  a  subsequent  hunting  expedition  with  Mr.  W.  J. 
Compton.  We  shot  and  killed  two  deer  with  the  English  long  bow. 
One  of  these  bucks  Mr.  Compton  shot  running  at  65  yards.  The  steel 
pointed  arrow  penetrated  the  chest  and  protruded  a  foot  the  other 
side,  breaking  off  as  the  deer  bounded  through  the  brush.  This  animal 
died  after  running  about  200  yards.  I  shot  another  buck  at  45  yards. 
The  arrow,  penetrating  just  back  of  the  diaphragm,  caused  an  intense 
mtra-abdominal  hemorrhage,  and  death  resulted  after  this  deer  had 
run  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  This  would  indicate  that  the  Indians  would 
have  had  little  difficulty  in  striking  down  game.  The  arrows  used  by 
us  were  of  the  type  of  the  old  English  broad  head,  29  inches  long, 
weighing  from  one  ounce  to  an  ounce  and  a  half,  heavily  feathered. 


191 8  I  Pope:  Yahi  Archery  129 

and  having  steel  heads  one  and  one-half  inches  long  by  one  inch  wide. 
Mr.  Compton  shot  a  six-foot  yew  bow  weighing  65  pounds,  while  mine 
was  a  sinew-backed  yew  bow  5  feet,  10  inches  long,  weighing  54  pounds. 

In  one  deer  killed  with  a  rifle,  I  tested  the  penetrating  power  of 
Ishi's  arrows.  Stationed  at  thirty  yards,  he  drove  one  arrow  through 
the  neck,  half  the  shaft  entering;  the  second  shot  struck  the  spine  and 
probably  would  have  caused  paralysis;  the  third  arrow  entered  the 
thorax  back  of  the  scapula,  its  head  piercing  the  opposite  chest  wall. 
This  also  would  have  been  fatal.7 

In  shots  at  buzzards,  hawks,  and  gulls  in  flight,  it  often  occurred 
that  an  arrow  coming  very  close  was  dodged  by  these  birds.  To  make 
this  less  possible,  Ishi  smeared  his  arrow  shaft  with  black  mud,  and 
selected  one  with  a  close-cropped  feather,  that  it  might  be  less  con 
spicuous  and  more  silent  than  usual. 

Our  bad  luck  in  deer  hunting  Ishi  ascribed  to  the  fact  that  I  had 
killed  a  rattlesnake  on  the  trail.  He  respected  these  reptiles,  and 
always  preferred  to  walk  around  a  snake,  wishing  him  well  and  leaving 
him  unharmed. 

Besides  using  the  ambush,  Ishi  waited  at  deer  licks  to  secure  his 
venison.  He  had  no  special  care  for  female  deer,  but  considered  them 
all  good  meat.  He  also  shot  fawns  if  needed  for  food.  Those  were  the 
days  of  abundance  of  game,  and  the  Indian  killed  only  for  food. 

He  preserved  his  deer  meat  by  a  process  of  curing  in  smoke,  just 
as  all  hunters  today  make  jerky.  The  deer  hide  he  or  more  likely  his 
female  relatives,  prepared  by  first  rubbing  in  the  brains  and  later  by 
drying  and  scraping.  Ishi  himself  did  not  seem  to  know  how  to  make 
a  fine  quality  of  buckskin.  His  needlework  and  moccasin  making  were 
also  not  of  an  advanced  type.  In  the  University  Museum  we  have  a 
fur  robe,  previously  the  property  of  Ishi.  It  is  composed  of  many  wild 
cat  and  raccoon  skins  sewn  together.  Here  the  preparation  is  of  a  very 
good  type.  The  furs  are  soft,  fairly  smooth  and  seem  to  have  been 
smoked.  This  process  of  smoking,  common  among  Indians,  saturates 
the  hide  with  creosote  compounds,  thus  preserving  the  tissue  from 
bacteria  and  parasites,  while  it  renders  it  soft  and  somewhat  water 
proof.  The  absence  of  wounds  in  these  skins  suggests  that  Ishi  used  a 
trap  or  snare  rather  than  the  bow,  to  secure  the  pelts. 

Ishi  told  us  many  times  the  methods  he  and  his  people  used  in 
killing  bear.  It  was  their  ancient  custom  for  a  number  of  men  to 
surround  an  animal,  building  a  circle  of  fire  about  him.  They  then  dis- 


"  There  are  interesting  facts  on  the  penetrating  power  of  the  arrow  in  Thomas 
Wilson's  Arrow  Wounds,  i«  the  American  Anthropologist,  n.  s.,  in,  513-600,  1901. 


130  University  of  California  Publications  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.       [Vol.  13 

charged  arrows  at  him,  attempting  to  shoot  him  in  the  mouth,  and 
preferring  to  use  rather  small  obsidian  points,  thinking  that  these 
made  a  more  severe  wound.  If  the  animal  charged  an  Indian,  he 
defended  himself  with  a  fire  brand,  while  the  other  members  of  the 
partly  shot  the  bear  with  arrows.  The  shooting  distance  seems  to  have 
been  twenty  yards  or  less.  The  whole  process  seems  to  have  been  one 
of  baiting  and  slowly  wearing  dowrn  the  animal  by  hemorrhage  and 
fatigue. 

Among  the  specimens  obtained  by  the  University  Museum  is  a 
skin  of  a  cinnamon  bear,  which  was  shot  by  Ishi  perhaps  twenty-five 
years  ago.  It  presents  two  cuts  that  indicate  arrow  and  knife  wounds. 
Ishi  said  that  he  killed  this  by  shooting  it  with  an  arrow  in  the  heart 
region,  and  later  dispatching  it  with  a  short  spear  or  obsidian  knife. 
Owing  to  our  imperfect  language  communication,  and  Ishi's  natural 
modesty,  we  were  unable  to  get  minute  details  of  this  feat,  but  appar 
ently  the  Indian  killed  the  beast  single-handed. 

Shooting  fish  with  the  bow  does  not  seem  to  have  been  one  of  his 
occupations.  He  used  a  salmon  spear  most  expertly,  and  he  also 
poisoned  fish  by  putting  the  beaten  fruit  of  squirting  cucumber  in 
trout  pools.  Fishhooks  he  made  of  bone,  and  wicker  weirs  were  con 
structed  for  trout ;  but  these  things,  of  course,  are  not  a  part  of  archery. 

Poisoned  arrows  he  never  used,  although  he  knew  of  a  method  of 
making  poison.  This  was  to  induce  a  rattlesnake  to  discharge  its 
venom  into  a  piece  of  deer  liver,  when,  after  putrefaction,  the  arrow 
heads  were  smeared  with  this  combined  bacterial  poison  and  venom. 

Ishi  could  imitate  the  call  of  many  birds  and  small  animals,  and  his 
name  for  these  creatures  had  a  remarkable  phonetic  resemblance  to 
their  call.  Mountain  quail  he  named  tsakaka;  the  wild  goose  was 
wami;  the  gray  squirrel,  dadichu.  These  lower  animals  he  believed 
fellow  creatures,  and  all  had  acted  human  parts  at  times.  The  lizards, 
because  of  their  hands,  once  made  bows  and  arrows.  Their  bobbing 
motion,  when  on  a  sunny  rock,  was  work  of  some  sort.  The  yellow 
tendrils  of  the  love  vine  or  dodder  were  made  by  them  at  night  to 
snare  deer.  The  barking  squirrel  in  the  treetop  told  him  of  a  near-by 
fox  or  wildcat.  A  story  was  built  around  every  animal,  and  these 
mythical  ideas  he  believed  must  be  taken  into  consideration  when 
hunting. 

Various  places  had  odors  suggestive  of  certain  animals.  Ishi  said 
that  white  men  smelled  bad,  like  a  horse. 

To  have  a  bow  break  in  the  hand  while  shooting,  Ishi  considered 
a  very  serious  omen  and  a  portent  of  sickness.  Thus  he  accounted  for 


1918]  Pope:  Yalii  Archery  131 

an  attack  of  paratyphoid  fever  which  one  of  ns  contracted.  He  him 
self  had  two  bows  shatter  in  his  grasp,  and  doubtless  this  and  several 
other  malign  influences  incident  to  our  civilization,  in  his  mind,  con 
tributed  as  causes  of  his  own  last  illness.  During  the  declining  days 
of  his  life,  the  one  thing  that  brought  that  happy  smile  to  his  face 
which  characterized  him,  was  the  subject  of  archery.  A  little  work, 
feathering  arrows  or  binding  points  on  with  sinew,  gave  him  more 
pleasure  than  any  diversion  we  could  offer.  Even  when  too  weak  to 
work,  he  liked  to  show  me  some  little  trick  or  method  in  making  a 
shaft  or  backing  a  bow.  To  the  last  his  heart  was  in  the  game.  When 
he  died  and  was  cremated  according  to  the  custom  of  his  people,  we 
placed  by  his  side  some  tobacco,  ten  pieces  of  dentalium  shell,  a  little; 
acorn  meal,  a  bit  of  jerky,  his  fire  sticks,  a  quiver  full  of  arrows,  and 
his  bow. 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATES 

PLATE  -2'2 
Death  mask  of  Ishi  who  died  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis,  March  25,  1916. 


[132] 


UNIV.    CALIF.    PUBL.    AM.    ARCH.    &.    ETHN.    VOL.     13  [  POPE    |    PLATE    22 


DEATH     MASK    OF    ISHI 


PLATE   23 

Fig.  1. — Hickory  bow,  backed  with  glued  catgut.  Made  in  1914.  A  strong- 
shooting  bow,  often  used  by  Ishi.  University  of  California  Museum  of  Anthro 
pology,  specimen  number  1-19867. 

Fig.  2.— Unbacked  ash  bow,  broken  in  use.  It  is  much  longer  than  Ishi 
usually  made,  54  inches.  Museum  number  1-19451. 

Fig.  3. — A  yew  bow,  made  on  the  normal  proportions,  backed  with  deer 
tendon.  This  specimen  was  broken  in  testing,  before  application  of  the  backing. 
Museum  number  1-19452. 

Fig.  4. — Oregon  yew  bow,  backed  with  thin  rawhide.  This  was  one  of 
Ishi 's  best  bows,  used  most  at  targets.  Museum  number  1-19590.  Length,  44 
inches.  The  hand  grip,  on  all  the  above  specimens,  is  woolen  tape. 

Fig.  5. — Quiver  of  otter  skin.  Specimen  number  1-19566.  The  contained 
bow  and  arrows  were  made  by  Ishi  at  the  Museum.  The  quiver  is  an  original 
piece,  taken  when  the  camp  of  his  people  was  discovered  in  1908. 


[134] 


UNIV.    CALIF.    PUBL.    AM.    ARCH.    &    ETHN.   VOL.    13  [  POPE  ]    PLATE   23 


1.1       2. 


3. 


5. 


YAHI    BOWS   AND   QUIVER 


PLATE  24 

Figures  1  to  3  are  old  Yahi  arrows;  4  to  9,  specimens  made  while  Ishi  was  at 
the  Museum. 

Fig.  1. — Shaft  of  hazel,  foreshaft  of  some  heavier  wood,  possibly  dogwood. 
There  is  a  notch  for  a  head,  but  this  is  missing.  Buzzard  wing  feathers. 
Length,  29%  inches,  weight  320  grains.  University  of  California  Museum  of 
Anthropology,  number  1-19577. 

Fig.  2. — The  same  type  as  above,  feathers  a  trifle  longer.  Both  are  painted 
with  alternate  red  and  blue  rings  and  intervening  wavy  lines.  Museum  number 
1-19578. 

Fig.  3. — The  shaft  is  like  the  preceding,  but  the  point  is  here  preserved. 
It  is  a  small  serrated  head  of  window  glass.  There  is  blood  on  the  arrow. 
Museum  number  1-19579. 

Fig.  4. — A  one-piece  hazel  shaft,  feathered  with  turkey  feathers,  pointed 
with  an  obsidian  head.  Commercial  pigments  and  shellac  embellish  this  arrow. 
Number  1-19864. 

Fig.  5. — This  is  the  type  of  arrow  Ishi  adopted  after  living  in  civilization. 
It  is  made  of  a  <%6  birch  dowel,  gayly  painted,  feathered  with  blue  heron 
feathers  and  is  tipped  with  a  steel  head,  sinew  bound.  Number  1—19863. 

Fig.  6. — This  is  a  dowel — turkey  tail  feathers,  blue  and  red  paint  rings, 
obsidian  head.  An  arrow  made  for  show.  Number  1-19866. 

Fig.  7. — A  longer  type  of  service  arrow  of  Japanese  bamboo  with  short 
birch  foreshaft  and  steel  head.  Used  in  early  target  practice  and  hunting. 
Number  1-19862. 

Fig.  8. — A  blunt-pointed  arrow  of  native  bamboo,  buckeye  foreshaft,  gay 
colors,  turkey  tail  feathers.  Made  for  exhibition  or  gift.  Number  1-19456. 

Fig.  9. — Same  as  last,  only  it  has  an  obsidian  head.  Length  38  inches,  weight 
580  grains.  Number  1-19454.  Similar  shafts  Ishi  made  and  gave  to  Secretary 
Lane  at  a  ceremonial  occasion  in  San  Francisco  in  1914. 


[136] 


PLATE  25 

Fig.  1. — Chewing  sinew  for  arrow  wrapping. 

Fig.  2. — Heating  resin  to  be  used  on  end  of  a  shaft  to  affix  the  head  on 
the  arrow. 

Fig.  3. — Sinew  being  applied  to  the  arrowhead  and  shaft. 


[138] 


PLATE  27 

Fig.  1. — Aboriginal  bone-pointed  arrowflaker.  This  is  from  the  Yurok 
tribe  in  northwestern  California  and  illustrates  the  type  used  by  the  Yahi  before 
iron  was  known.  Length,  17%  inches.  University  of  California  Museum  of 
Anthropology,  specimen  uumuer  i— 2496. 

Fig.  2. — Iron  flaker  made  and  used  by  Ishi  while  in  captivity.  Number 
1-19591. 

Fig.     3. — Flaker  for  fine  retouching. 

Fig.     4. — Leather  pad  to  cover  the  ball  of  the  hand  in  flaking. 

Fig.  5. — Bone  struck  a  glancing  blow  in  order  to  detach  pieces  from  a  lump 
of  obsidian. 

Fig.     6. — Stone  used  as  a  mallet  to  strike  bone. 

Fig.     7.- — Obsidian  struck  from  a  larger  mass. 

Fig.     8. — Flake  as  detached  previous  to  the  retouching  process. 

Fig.     9. — Obsidian  arrow  point  taking  shape. 

Fig.  10. — Obsidian  arrow  nearing  completion. 

Fig.  11. — Completed  obsidian  arrow  point. 

Fig.  12. — Minute  flakes  and  chips  detached  in  the  retouching. 

Fig.  13. — A  small,  broad  arrow  point  of  obsidian.  Length,  1  inch;  width, 
n/ig  inch;  thickness,  %  inch;  weight,  15  grains. 

Fig.  14. — Long,  narrow  arrowhead  made  of  plate  glass.  Ishi  made  many 
such  show  pieces.  They  are  too  long  and  fragile  for  use. 

Fig.  15. — Obsidian  arrowhead.  Length,  2  inches;  width  i-%6  inch;  thickness, 
y±  inch;  weight,  60  grains. 

Fig.  16. — Glass  arrowhead,  made  from  a  blue  medicine  bottle. 

Fig.  17. — A  glass  arrowhead,  made  from  a  brown  beer  bottle.  Length,  3 
inches;  width,  1  inch;  thickness  %6  inch;  weight  90  grains. 


[140] 


UNIV.    CALIF.    PUBL.    AM.    ARCH.    &    ETHN.    VOL.     13 


POPE    |    PLATE    30 


UNIV.    CALIF.    PUBL,    AM.    ARCH.    &    ETHN.   VOL.     13  f  POPE  1    PLATE    31 


KXKB:i,IX(i     SHOT 


PLATE  32 

Fig.  1. — Chopping  a  stick  of  juniper  into  rough  shape  for  a  bow. 
Fig.  2. — A  shot  from  a  squatting  position,  a  characteristic  attitude  in  Ishi's 
archery. 

Fig.  3. — Calling  game. 


[142] 


UNIV.    CALIF.    PUBL.    AM.    ARCH.    &    ETHN.    VOL.     13 


[  POPE  ]    PLATE   32 


L>(>\\'     MAKIN<;     AM)     IITXTING 


PLATE  33 

Fig.  1. — Watching  the  flight  of  the  arrow.  The  bow  string  is  still  vibrating. 
The  bow  has  turned  in  Ishi's  grasp  in  a  manner  that  was  habitual  with  him.  He 
holds  an  extra  arrow  in  his  right  armpit. 

Fig.  2. — Carrying  the  bow  and  arrow.     This  is  a  54-inch  hunting  bow  of 
cedar,  pulling  45  pounds.    The  arrows  are  steel-pointed. 


[144] 


PLATE  34 

An  original  specimen  taken  from  the  camp  which  the  Yahi  were  inhabit 
ing  in  1908.  It  now  forms  number  1-19564  in  the  Anthropological  Museum 
of  the  University. 


[  146  ] 


PLATE  35 

Obtained  under  the  same  circumstances  as  the  deer  head  shown  in  the  pre 
ceding  plate.     The  number  of  the  specimen  in  the  Museum  is  1-19565. 


[148] 


UNIV.    CALIF.    PUBL.    AM.    ARCH.    &.    ETHN.   VOL.    13  [  POPE  ]    PLATE   35 


CAPE    OF    WILDCAT    SKIN'S 


PLATE  36 

From  a  cinematograph  film 
Fig-  1- — Nocking  an  arrow  on  the  string. 
Fig.  2. — Full   drawn,   wrist   touching  the   chin. 


[150] 


UNIV.    CALIF.    PUBL.    AM.    ARCH.    &    ETHN.   VOL.    13 


f  POPE  ]    PLATE   36 


•RKPARINCi    TO    SHOOT 


PLATE  37 

From   a   cinematograph   film 

Fig.  1. — After  release.     The  bow  has  turned  in  lahi's  hand  and  the  vibra 
tion  of  the  string  can  be  seen. 

Fig.  2. — Ishi  watching  the  flight  of  his  arrow.     He  holds  his  positi  m 


[  152  ] 


UNIV 


CALIF.    PUBL.    AM.    ARCH.    &    ETHN.     VOL.    13  [  POPE  ]    PLATE    37 


FiK.    I 


AFTKR    THE    RELEASE 


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